Irish football legend Niall Quinn finally fulfilled a decades old promise to his mum when he graduated from DCU earlier this month.
The Perrystown man told his mum Mary he would complete his education in England when he signed for Arsenal at age 16 but didn't initially stick to his word. However Niall's proud mum, who is now 93-years-old, finally got to see her son keep his promise when he received his Masters' of History from the north Dublin college.
The former Man City and Sunderland striker was encouraged to pursue his love of history by his wife Gillian, son Mikey and daughter Aisling, all of whom are DCU graduates. Niall said "force of nature" Aisling was particularly instrumental in giving him the push to return to education.
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The 92-times capped Republic of Ireland international said: “I found myself living in a house of study. They were all studying and I found myself as the odd one out.
"Aisling is a tremendous force of nature and she kept pushing me and told me I would love it. Gillian and Mikey kept chipping in too."
The Mighty Quinn developed a love of history in school but was gutted not to get top marks in his exams. This spurred him on to study the subject at third level.
“When I left for Arsenal I had done what used to be called the Inter Cert," he said. "I got a B in history and I was devastated it was not an A because I loved the subject. To me history was fun and it made me tick.
Niall, who is Ireland's second highest goal scorer of all time with 21 strikes, completed his Masters over two years on a part-time basis. And he remained focussed on soccer by taking a deep dive into the life of Oscar Traynor.
As well as being a revolutionary leader in 1916 and later Minister for Defence and Justice, the former Fianna Fail TD was described by Niall as "a great football man and an excellent goalkeeper". Traynor was a huge advocate for soccer at a time when "foreign games" were coming under fire in the country.
"That is when the GAA introduced the ban so that people who played soccer were not allowed to take part in Gaelic games and were made to feel less Irish," said Niall. "Oscar Traynor, on numerous occasions, gave strong defence of the game of football on this island and gave great service in an administrative role to the FAI."
Traynor's instrumental role in having that ban lifted meant Niall could play both Gaelic games and soccer as a young boy. He would excel at both, playing for Dublin in the 1983 All-Ireland Minor Hurling Final before going on to the hugely successful soccer career which saw him appearing at the 1988 European Championships and 1990 and 2002 World Cups.
“Oscar Traynor fought publicly over many years for the ban to be lifted," he added. "Coming from a GAA background I would not have had the life I did had the ban remained." And he urged anyone considering a return to education to dive right in and go for it.
"I played for my country and was commended for that but I now know far more about Ireland and that makes me happy," he said. "For anyone considering a return to education, I would beseech any person with the slightest itch to go back, to just do it. There is no down side, it is so fulfilling."
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